A group of hackers has attacked several Nissan websites in support of the OpWhales campaign.

A group of hackers has attacked several Nissan websites in support of the OpWhales campaign.

Anonymous took responsibility of the cyber-strike, believed to be part of a new online campaign fighting against the killing of whales and dolphins in Japan. The hacking collective also attacked several other Japanese websites, including the official site of the country's prime minister.

Anonymous bombarded the global corporate sites of Nissan and the company’s domestic market site for parts with visits. The manufacturer then decided to take the sites offline in order to protect customers from a possible leak of data.

“Customer privacy and security is of utmost importance, and we take any potential threat to our information systems seriously,” spokesman David Reuter said in a statement.

He also made it clear by commenting that whaling is beyond Nissan’s scope.

“We do not comment or take a stance on topics which we view as outside the scope of our business,” Reuter said.

The OpWhales campaign is in protest of Icelandic company Hvalur, which reportedly killed 155 fin whales and 29 minke whales in 2015.

“While ‘spear-whaling’ may have been necessary in Iceland centuries ago (where the entire whale was used as a valuable resource), in 2016 the practice is unimaginably cruel, highly unnecessary and certainly shunned by most of the world,” Anonymous said on its OpWhales website.